What

The Chennai Super Kings will look to make it three wins in three matches when they take on the Rajasthan Royals in Match 12 of VIVO IPL 2019.

Chennai Super Kings got the better of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opening game of the season and three days later chased down 148 against the Delhi Capitals. Though still early in the season, the Super Kingsalready look a well-oiled machine. They fielded the same XI in their first two matches – despite fielding only three overseas players, and barring any injuries or completely different conditions, it is likely that they’ll play the same side yet again.

The Rajasthan Royals have no points on the boardand lie at the bottom of the table. But the two losses could have easily been wins. In their season opener, a spectacular collapse – following the controversial run out of Jos Buttler – cost them their match against Kings XI Punjab. Most recently on Friday night, Sanju Samson’s hundred powered them to 198, but they were blown away by David Warner.If only the Royals had got their bowling plans right, they certainly had enough runs to defend.

When

31 March 2019, 8pm IST

Where

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

Previous Match XIs:

Chennai Super Kings: Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar.

Rajasthan Royals:Ajinkya Rahane, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, Rahul Tripathi, K Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, JaydevUnadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni.

Protagonists

Shane Watson and Suresh Raina set up the Super Kings’ win against the Delhi Capitals; on a sluggish surface at the Feroze Shah Kotla, the two experienced players went hard at the new ball and got their team off to a quick start. The conditions at the Chepauk will be somewhat similar, possibly more challenging, and therefore the focus will be on the pair yet again to take toll of the new ball.

For the Rajasthan Royals, Jos Buttlerand Sanju Samsonwill be expected to shoulder the responsibility of scoring the bulk of the runs. Samson struggled for form in the most-recent domestic cricket season but seems to relish playing under the spotlightthe IPL puts him under. The Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman is being given the opportunity to bat at number three – ahead of international batsmen like Steve Smith and Ben Stokes – and if he can consistently produce knocks like he did against the Sunrisers on Friday night, that decision will be justified.

If a typical Chennai surface is provided for this match, expect Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir and Shreyas Gopal to have a field day.

Head to Head in Indian Premier League

Overall: Matches – 19, Chennai Super Kings – 12, Rajasthan Royals – 7.

In Chennai: Matches – 6, Chennai Super Kings – 5, Rajasthan Royals – 1.

Trivia

The Rajasthan Royals have lost 7 of their last 9 matches outside Jaipur.

The Chennai Super Kings have won 13 of their last 14 matches at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Shane Watson has scored a hundred against the Chennai Super Kings while playing for the Rajasthan Royals in 2013. In 2018, he did the reverse too – he scored a century for the Super Kings against the Rajasthan Royals.